Beyond Western Individualism: African and Chinese Philosophical Alternatives in Ontologies of Being, Relationality and Society

This paper undertakes a critical comparative analysis of African and Chinese philosophical alternatives to Western individualism, examining how these non-Western traditions conceptualize being, relationality, and society in fundamentally distinct ways. The hegemony of Western individualism—rooted in Cartesian epistemology, liberal social contract theory, and rights-based political discourse—has profoundly shaped global understandings of personhood, prioritizing the autonomous, self-sufficient individual as the primary unit of moral, political, and ontological analysis. However, this paradigm increasingly faces scrutiny for its inadequacy in addressing the relational, communal, and holistic dimensions of human existence that characterize African and Chinese philosophical traditions.